Huge game this weekend. The Colts, Jaguars, and Texans could all lose their games this week, so if we win, we're automatically one game up on everyone in the division. Either way, we can't afford to lose a game with Jax on our tail. Huge game with them next week too.

Great win today. It was sloppy with the turnovers and penalties, but it was decisive. Not quite 3-2.

We're 6-2 now, and Jacksonville, San Diego, Denver, and Kansas City all lost today. I do believe we're now the definite leader for the AFC Wild Card slot now. If any Titans fans would have guessed this start, they would have been roasted in NFL Forum.

Vince actually played well today. He completed around 61% of his passes, and had a rushing TD. He led 3 scoring drives of 10+ plays, including a TD on the very first drive which I thought was huge. The bad notes were the 2 INT's. On one INT, Roydell Williams stopped early on his route and Ken Lucas caught it in the end zone. I blame that equally on both players. I forgot when Cooper caught the other INT, so if someone could refresh my memory that would be nice. Young took 3 sacks, which is average, but a few should have been avoided. He threw for 110 yards and ran for 25 yards, which was good against a very underrated defense. He still has a way to go with his passing, but he'll get there. Fortunately, we can win with performances such as this. Just limit the INT's.

The running backs players well, but not as great as usual. Again, this is a solid defense and it boasts a great front seven of Julius Peppers, Kris Jenkins, Mike Rucker, Thomas Davis, and Jon Beason. LenDale had his 3rd consecutive 100-yard game and scored his 5th TD this season. His YPC was a meager 3.2 and he did have a lost fumble, though. Chris Henry had -3 yards on 3 carries, which was horrible. But with his off the field issues and lack of carries, we can't realistically expect too much. He did have a great KO return and a 1st down on a screen pass, and I hope he gets more chances in those areas.

The receivers had an average game. Ben Troupe dropped a 1st down pass which killed a drive, and both Roydell and Brandon Jones stopped short on routes. But there were a few good catches, so we gotta take the good with the bad. The passing game as a whole still has areas where it can improve. Jones did have a great reverse, though. I'm not expecting Givens back this season, and I think a set WR lineup would be nice. I don't like the "WR by committee" approach, and think that it would be best for Vince to create a chemistry and rappaport with only 2-3 WR's.

Defense

The defensive line is playing out of their minds. They notched 7 sacks by 5 different players! Albert Haynesworth stamped his ticket to the Pro Bowl today with 3 sacks, and this guy needs to be resigned. KVB, Brown, and LaBoy had a sack each. Hell, LaBoy even had an INT! Along with their great pass rushing effort, they also stopped the run once again. Carolina only ran for 78 net yards and a YPC avg of 3.5. Thats great, and the best thing is that that is over the average of yards that the Titans give up. I can't say enough about this DLine.

The LB's had to do with the great pass pressure and run stuffing. David Thornton had a sack, and is quietly leading the team in tackles. Bulluck had a quiet day, and so did Fowler. The DLine's dominance made the LB's day very easy.

For the secondary, Michael Griffin played great today. You didn't hear his name much, but I saw him up with the LB's and deep in the secondary. He's so versatile, and made a HUGE TD saving PD. He convered his WR, came to help Finnegan, and timed it perfect. It was great. Harper had 2 PD's, and as usual, Finny was all over the place. Chris Hope had his second game with an INT, and I hope that trend continues. The secondary shut down Steve Smith, and held Carolina to 113 net yards passing, and a sub-56% comp percentage.

Special Teams

Rob Bironas was money. 2/2 FG and 2/2 XP. Hentrich had 5 punts for a 41 Avg, and dropped 2 inside the 20. Not to mention he launched a rocket out of our endzone to prevent Carolina from getting great field position. Henry had a great KR to start things off, and it helped us score early. Chris Davis had a respectable 12 YD AVG of on punt returns, with a long of 39, but he had trouble with one. That Ben Troupe grab was funny. Moral victory for him. Plus, our return coverage was great. Good day for the special teams.

QUOTE

Quote:

Originally Posted by Albert Haynesworth on his 3 sacks

I guess I was at the right place at the right time. I’ve got a technique that works for me now and I’m just going out there using it and having fun. But just credit them (sacks) to the whole D-linemen. If it weren’t for them being right there in their (Panthers’) face, I couldn’t get those sacks. It was a good thing but, we just wanted to stop the run and get after the quarterback. We knew (David) Carr would feel the rush, because he’s always worried about us. And knowing this year that we’re better, we knew he might be kind of extra scared, or worried about our defense. So we wanted to get after him. He held the ball a real long time so it gave us a chance to get there. I appreciate him holding the ball so long to help us out.

Overall it was a good game. We had too many penalties and too many turnovers, but we defeated a winning team by double digits. And I'll take that every time. We have a big game next week against Jax, who lost big to New Orleans today. Currently we're second in the division, and are only 1 game behind Indy. If we win next week, we'll be 7-2 and we'll have a firm grip on the 2nd spot in our division by knocking Jax to 5-4. As for right now, I think we're the odds on favorite for the Wild Card. Friggin awesome...

I gotta disagree on your first point. I thought Vince played bad. The 2nd INT was horrible. Roydell (I think) was running deep down the sideline, Vince stepped up in the pocket to about the LOS and threw it into the end zone where it was tipped and intercepted. Roydell was open. The pass was late and underthrown. And to top that off, no one was within 20 yds of VY when he threw it. He could have ran for 10-15 easily...everyone in the stadium could see that.

I also thought LenDale played well. You can't look at the numbers with him. This is exactly what Fisher wants. LenDale is gonna be our starting RB for a long time because Fish loves him. He's gonna put up numbers similar to what Eddie did, just without the physique. 30 carries for 100 yards...that is Fisher's dream RB. We drafted Henry to be the backup/home run threat/pass catching option/maybe even KOR, but we drafted LenDale to be the workhorse so we better get used to it.

And lastly, I gotta give props to Finnegan. When you are there live and can actually watch him every play, it's pretty awesome. He never backs down from anybody and is always looking to scrap. This kid is borderline dirty and I love it, lol. Not to mention he's turning into one HELL of a corner and most don't even know who he is.

Roydell definitely stopped short on his route. If he kept running, he would been in the corner of the endzone where the ball was throw. But he stopped, and the ball went over him and was caught unopposed by Ken Lucas. If Roydell would have kept running, he would have at least been able to knock the ball down or try to keep Lucas from intercepting it.

Either way, I think his play yesterday was an improvement. If Vince can get just one TD, and a RB scores of we score some other way, I think we'll be able to win any game. With our defense, 20 points can beat any team.

Jaguars DT Marcus Stroud's 4 game suspension was activated today. Which means he won't play in our game this Sunday with Jax. Great news, but they just signed Grady Jackson so it's not like some cupcake backup will be starting instead. We played Jackson already once this year when we played Atlanta, and Vince didn't have his best game that time and the Jags always give Vince trouble. Lets hope this is not the case this week.

Jaguars DT Marcus Stroud's 4 game suspension was activated today. Which means he won't play in our game this Sunday with Jax. Great news, but they just signed Grady Jackson so it's not like some cupcake backup will be starting instead. We played Jackson already once this year when we played Atlanta, and Vince didn't have his best game that time and the Jags always give Vince trouble. Lets hope this is not the case this week.

are you sure jackson played that game? i was at that game and i seem to remember him not being in uniform. i could be mistaken however.

we will top the jags, indy will lose then we will be in second tied with indy, we will keep tied with them until we beat them in the last game of the season, then we will go on to butt ram the pats and win a superbowl...finally

David Stewart got raped today. Vince played one good quarter, and sucked the rest. Haynesworth didn't play, and our defense was average at best. LenDale probably got around 10 carries, and left the game due to injury or since we were forced to pass from then on. Reynaldo Hill had to go in for Harper, and they targeted his side when he was in. Just wasn't our day, and I can't really point the finger at one person. Just an all around poor showing.

Good game. Haynesworth would have helped with the running game, but you guys were missing Stroud. You GM also prepared by getting Grady Jackson. Ours went after Demetri Veal. You guys deserved it. I don't think Haynesworth's addition would have meant a Titans win today. It may have been closer, but it was a matter of execution moreso than personnel.

Basically a carbon copy of the 1st game with the roles reversed. We got our asses whipped on both sides of the LOS.

Stewart had his worst game as a pro. Finny finally had an off game. Griffin didn't do too hot.

Vince was bad again despite the good yardage numbers passing and running. I really really really hate our offensive gameplan going into games. We play it so close to the vest and conservative that it forces the QB to be perfect to sustain any offense.

We ALWAYS start off the game running and throwing short. Well guess what? When your RB is slow and you rely on short passes, you have to put together 10+ play drives to score TD's. Can't do that with an inefficient QB. Despite the INT's, he looked alot better when we went no huddle, spread the field out more, and put him in the gun some. He threw downfield more, and he ran more successfully.

We need to get Justin Gage on the field more. God....typing that made me realize how sad our offense is. We need Justin freaking Gage on the field more. Let that sink in.

Brandon Jones - Drops a perfect pass that would have definitely been a big play.

Justin Gage - Drops a pass that would have been a 1st Down. We then punt, and its returned for a TD.

Offensive Line - Played bad. Their run blocking was bad. Eugene Amano sucked, and allowed pressure on almost every play. The OT's have done well. The Inside guys not so much.

2nd QTR Negatives:

Eugene Amano - Called for a holding penalty.

Leroy Harris - Called for a holding penalty on a kickoff.

LenDale White - Fumbled in Denver territory, which would have led to points. Then, Denver marches down the field and scores a field goal. That is on LenDale and the coaching staff, since they replaced Chris Brown who was playing very well with LenDale and then he fumbled on his 1st run back.

Cortland Finnegan - Called for a pass interference penalty on a throw that may not have been catchable and allowed Denver to have a 1st Down in the Red Zone.

Roydell Williams - Dropped a pass that would have allowed us to have a 1st and Goal with only seconds left, or maybe even a touchdown.

Its odd. Vince Young is playing great, but the rest of the team is mediocre or worse. Jones made a good catch for a TD, and Scaife had that catch but got screwed over by the officials. Chris Brown did well in the limited time he had. Its time to bench LenWhale for Chris Brown cause he is too slow and can't cut it against this defense, which is a defense that is poor against the run!

I think Lendale has actually been pounding the ball well, except for that one fumble. Vince hasn't looked better this season. We just really need Haynesworth back on that line. Also, my god have we killed ourselves with dropped balls. The Scaife play was excusable because the officials blew the call even though it was close just looking at it in real time. However, players like Roydell Williams, Justin Gage and Brandon Jones have shot us in the foot with dropped passes for big gains. That is what has really hurt us. The pass defense has been awful as well, as Reynaldo Hill is getting beaten by Marshall